When my mother died in May 2012 we were very impressed with the funeral service and the compassion and respect that my family and I received from our local Funeral Directors. The one part which was very important to my family was the Funeral Order Of Service and how we wanted to make our mother proud of us, this is where we found difficulty in finding an appropriate design or print company who would put that extra personal touch and feeling to the memory of our mother. After approaching a number of printers we were offered some of their sample designs which consisted of no more than three black and white standard template designs to choose from.

Being a Graphic Designer and my mothers funeral in two days, I was left with no option but to design and print my own mothers Funeral Order Of Service. This was the one particular design job I never thought I would ever or want to do, and after spending many hours talking to our local Celebrant Angela Mason OBE JP I finally came up with a design both my family and I were happy with. I then decided to contact my local printers and paper mill suppliers to find out the best products to use. This resulted in the final Funeral Order Of Service being printed in full CMYK on a 1200 dpi laser printer on 200gsm silk coated paper and this led to being my standard production process for every Funeral Order Of Service.

Designing and producing my own mothers Funeral Order Of Service turned out to be very be inspirational and rewarding as I had complete control of that personal touch that we were looking for. The positive comments I received after the funeral from family and friends, who requested additional copies for keepsake, made all my efforts and hard work worthwhile and justified. I knew my mother deserved the best, and I knew I provided that for my family.

From that day, I decided that every family deserves this level of attention, personal touch and compassion for such an important day and final farewell to their loved one. After carrying out research into other providers of Funeral Order Of Services I didn't find a single company or designer that offered this level of service with such personal attention. Instead I found many online companies who allow you to upload your photos and choose a design, with the occasional option of paying and additional £15 - £20 to have the template slightly changed. This I found very insensitive, impersonal and restricted to a family's needs, so I decided to concentrate my skills and efforts to offering these personal services allowing the family complete control in the design and content, without having to choose from a small selection of designs.

I work on a freelance basis and are the exclusive designer for Collyer & McBride and Henley funeral directors, my design studio is based and operated from my home address where I create bespoke designs that can include any family photographs, personal memories, hymns, prayers and song lyrics of your choice. I felt my mother deserved the best, your loved ones deserved nothing but the best personal tribute in honour of their memory.